Data products

Refractive index of atmospheric air is non-homogeneous and distorts propagating light waves. This phenomenon, called optical turbulence, causes serious limitations in astron-omy, optical communication, adaptive optics, etc., driving the need for turbulence char-acterization. At the same time, these distortions provide means to measure the optical turbulence by a remote optical turbulence sensor (ROTS). Compared to direct in situ techniques such as micro-thermal probes, a ROTS has obvious advantages: it can sample the whole turbulent path instantaneously and measures the optical e®ect, directly related to the propagation, hence to the needs of the end users. Unfortunately, the information on turbulence delivered by existing ROTSs is always incomplete due to the limitations of these techniques. x